In the field of mineral sorting, sorting machines generally comprise a single stage of sensor arrays controlling (via, e.g., micro controller or other digital control system) a matched array of diverters.
Sensors used in mineral sorting can be of diverse origin, including photometric (light source and detector), radiometric (radiation detector), electromagnetic (source and detector or induced potential), or more high-energy electromagnetic source/detectors such as x-ray source (fluorescence or transmission) or gamma-ray source types. Matched sensor/diverter arrays are typically mounted onto a substrate (e.g., vibrating feeder, belt conveyor, free-fall type), which substrate transports the material to be sorted past the sensors and thus on to the diverters where the material is diverted to either one of two destinations, ‘accept’ or ‘reject’.
Sorting is typically undertaken by one or more high-efficiency machines in a single stage, or in more sophisticated arrangements, such as rougher/scavenger, rougher/cleaner, or rougher/cleaner/scavenger. Material to be sorted is typically metallic mineral material between 15 mm-200 mm in size, although finer and coarser materials can be sorted with smaller or larger machines as the case may be.
Sorter capacity is limited by several factors, including micro controller speed, belt or feeder width, and a typical requirement to a) segregate the feed over a limited particle size range, and b) separate individual particles in the feed from each other prior to sorting to ensure high efficiency separation. A new type of sorting with high effectiveness in the mining industry comprises in-mine batch mineral sensing and classification. However, further advancements are still needed before such in-mine batch sorting devices can be successfully operated in the field.
The drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements of the figures may be expanded or reduced to help improve the understanding of the embodiments of the present application. Similarly, some components and/or operations may be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for the purposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the present application. Moreover, while the disclosure is amenable to various modification and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been show by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the disclosure to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the disclosure is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure.